Art of preparing colored yarn for filling



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HERMAN F. STRAIN, OF MANCHESTER, NE /V HAMPSHIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.3l3,123, dated March 3, 18 85.

App'ication filed July 11, 1883.

To (til whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN F. STRAW, of Manchester, county of Hillsborough, State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improvement in the Art of Preparing Colored Yarn for Filling, of which the following description is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of preparing filling for ginghams and other such goods, in which the yarns are colored before being woven. By the process now in common use the bobbins or cops of yarn, when taken from the spinning frame-or mule, are wound into skeins on a reeling-machine, and in this form are dyed by hand-labor, and dried in heated rooms, called dry-rooms. WVhen dry, the skeins are returned to the mill, where they are wound, on a machine, called a quill or yarn-winder, from the skein upon fillingbobbins or quills, ready for the loom-shuttle. In some mills the dyed skeins are first wound in a spooling'machine upon spools like Warper-spools, and in a second machine are rewound from these spools upon filling-bobbins.

Each of the above methodshas some advantages; but the cost in either case does not materially vary.

\Vhen the filling-yarn is wound from the skein directly upon the filling-bobbins, the process is slow, for, by reason of the varying diameter of the bobbins and the mass of yarn wound thereon, the skeins, held on swifts or whirs, are jerked or turned at different speeds, resulting in frequent breakages of the yarn,and also in delivering at times too much Warp, by reason of the momentum of the swifts, such slack yarn resulting in quills wound too soft to be properly delivered from the bobbins when in the shuttles.

To obviate the evils'enumerated as arising from winding the yarn from the skeins directly upon the filling-bobbins of unequal di ameter, the said skeins, as stated, have been wound upon spools having heads, the bodies of the spools being of equal diameter, thus enabling the strain on the yarn and the movement of the skein and swifts to-be uniform, and the spools, the yarn having been wound uniformly on them, have been placed in a second machine provided with spindles to rotate the filling-bobbins, which are to re (No specimens.)

ceiye the yarn from the said spools. In this second machine the process of winding the yarn upon the filling-bobbins is quite rapid as compared with the speed of winding from the skeins, because the spools may be controlled as to their rotation by friction mechanism; but even then very much difficulty is experienced in regulating the tension and keeping it as nearly uniform as possible while the yarn is being wound upon the filling-bobbins of various diameter. In both these old plans it is very diiiicult to make the nose of the wound mass of yarn on the filling-bobbin sufficiently hard without excessive strain on the yarns going upon the part of the bobbin of greater diameter, strain which is liable to frequently break the same. The mass of yarn on the bobbin, provided its nose is snfficiently hard, when in the shuttle unwinds from the bobbin Without snarling. Both these old plans have, however, greater objections than those noted, which arise solely from the sk eining processas, for instance, the yarn in skein form is subjected to frequent handling and wringings, depending much upon the color the yarn is to have, and the yarn in the skeins becomes matted and tangled, and'in some cases more than others, because of the varying nature of the dyestuff for different colors, and the disentangling of the yarn in these skeins without breaking the same, the skein having been dried, is one of the slowest and most costly processes in the manufacture of colored goods, and with the best machinery, such as now used, and with the most careful of operators, frequent breakage occurs, and a large amount of yarn is wasted, and waste of dyed yarn cannot be too little.

To obviate the difficulties inherent in the skein process, and at the same time save money on the cost of preparing colored filling for the shuttle, I have by experiment discovered that the step of skeining, heretofore con-' sidered necessary in the production of colored filling, may be entirely dispensed with, and by a machine described in an application filed by Inc August 8, 1883, I have been enabled to wind the filling-bobbins very uniformly as to hardness, and with the minimum of breakage in the yarn.

In accordance with my improved method of preparing colored yarn for filling the filling is formed into chains and dyed in the chain and dried, after which the dyed and dried yarn is wound upon abeam, and is subsequently wound directly from the beam upon filling-bobbins for use in loom-shuttles, as will be described.

The chains of filling-yarn are treated and dyed in precisely the same way as warps are treated in the long-chain system of dyeing, the chains being handled by machinery, and much more rapidly and economically than by hand-labor-such as is necessary when the filling is dyed in the skein-and with less snarling and less strain on the yarn than when wrung in the skein system. After coloring,

.these chains are dried on a drying-machine having a steam-drum, and when dried are rewound onto awar'p-beam on a machine called a beamer, and the chain-dyed beamed yarn is subsequently wound upon filling-bobbins by a machine invented by me and described in the said application.

Among other advantages due to my method over that ordinarily practiced are the followlng:

First. The substitution of chain-dyeing for skein-dyeing, which effects a very considerable saving in the cost of and in the time required for coloring and drying, and with the result of obtaining much more uniform colors or shades than is possible when the skein method is used.

Second. The substitution of beaming and winding from beams onto bobbins for the extremely difficult and wasteful process of wind ing from skeins. In my method the two operations above named can be performed at a cost for labor not exceeding two-thirds the cost of winding from skeins onto bobbins, and while the waste made in skein-winding is from three to ten per cent., according to the colors and quality of the yarn being wound, the waste made by my method will not exceed in any event one or two per cent. of the yarn.

Third. There is no possibility of the machine used in my method injuring the colors of the yarn by friction, as is the case with many, if not all, the filling-winding machines now in use having cones or diagonally-set wound is pressed as it is being wound. and is thereby discolored to a greater or less extent and weakened.

I claim The improvement in the art or method of preparing colored yarn for filling, which consists in forming the filling into chains, then dyeing and drying the chains and winding the dyed yarn upon a beam, and subsequently rewinding it upon filling-bobbins for use in loom-shuttles, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERMAN F. STRAVV.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. N OYES.

5O rollers into or against which the yarn being 

